Giant Super Bowl Sunday

I slept later than I'd planned this morning and was almost late for work, which wasn't a good thing. They needed everyone they could get. Work was an absolute MADHOUSE today, even worse when I left than when I arrived. We were short on help (my break was late) and I got out somewhat late because of the long lines, but other than that, there were no major problems. I grabbed icing and cherry preserves for my Cocoa-Cherry Checkerboard Cake, the last of the Kashi Cinnamon Harvest Shredded Wheat (I love Kashi's Shredded Wheat cereals), and a box of Duncan Hines White Cake Mix on sale for a dollar. (I like to keep white cake mixes around for when I get baking urges; they use egg whites and are lower-fat than most cake mixes besides angel food.)

When I got home, I changed shirts, put the cherry preserves between cake layers, frosted the outside of the cake, and headed over to Uncle Ken's for his big Super Bowl party. Everyone was there when I arrived - Dolores and her family, Uncle Ken, Dad, Jodie, Samantha and her family, several neighbors. The breakfast island in the kitchen was laden with dinner goodies - appetizers, brownies, granola cookies, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, Dad's famous chili, a meat-and-cheese deli tray, soda, and liquor for the adults who enjoy that sort of thing.

My cake was a huge hit...and so was the game. Unlike most Super Bowls, where one team tends to dominate the entire four quarters and the commercials are often the most interesting things seen all night, the Giants wouldn't give the Patriots' much-vaunted offense a chance to get going. (And the commercials, except for one really cute one involving a Clydesdale and a dalmatian, were a total snooze.) The Patriots were ahead 7-3 by halftime, but I was starting to doze off. After the totally rocking Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert (I really need to find my Heartbreakers Greatest Hits CD), I was ready to go home.

I don't know how coherent Jodie was, but she did tell me in the car on the way home that she and Dad were willing to help me finance school and that they're both afraid I'll end up in worse debt than Rose is now. I'm still going to send in my Financial Aid form, but I appreciate the offer. We'll see what happens.

(I didn't find out until later, but incidentally, the Giants apparently made a huge play in the final moments of the fourth quarter to end the Patriots' perfect season and win the Super Bowl 17-14.)